Looking for Beauty

I recently facilitated a poetry reading for a group of English teachers.  It was a wonderful experience.  It deepened in me the sense of the beauty of words and the power of language.  Each poet read her poetry with such feeling and intensity.  It was like listening to a personal revelation.

For some reason, I got to thinking about some Catholic poets like Gerard Manley Hopkins and Sister Madeleva Wolff.  Many are familiar with Hopkins work, but, how many of us know of Sister Madeleva and her contribution to American poetry?  I remember reading some of Sister Madeleva’s work while I was in high school.  I went to a Catholic high school, so that is probably why her works were included in our anthology.  I doubt that I would have heard of her at Central High School (the public high school in our town).

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